Parker Smith to perform solo at Sentient Bean

On Aug. 24, Smith will present his solo show at The Sentient Bean. Kyrsten Paige of The Rosies will open the show.

Smith also is known for his band, Parker Smith and The Bandwidth, which landed its first gig in September 2010. He embarked on his “Solo Flight” tour in 2012, performing in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia.

In his solo acoustic shows, Smith plays his own original songs. A compilation of recordings from the tour was released in April.

“I write all the material for the group and my solo shows,” Smith says.

“The solo shows are a little more focused on songs and songwriting and presenting them in an acoustic format. With the band, we’re a little more focused on the band and different players and exploring the songs a little more.”

At the University of Miami, Smith studied jazz guitar.

“Ever since high school, I played in bands,” he says. “It wasn’t until a few years ago that I started playing music out.

“I played with a bunch of different people with cover bands or bands where other people are writing. I learned a lot about performing and what works and what doesn’t.

“I kind of jumped in one day and said I wanted to do a show that focused on my stuff,” Smith says. “I booked a gig and it went well and I got a lot of good feedback. I got the bug and I’ve been playing ever since.”

Many subjects influence Smith’s songwriting.

“I’m not the kind of person who writes every day,” he says.

“A lot of times, I have fragments of songs. A couple of months or even years later, I’ll finish it. Other times, I can be sitting at home and playing something on the guitar and the song pours out in one sitting.

“The process can be difficult for me,” Smith says. “I can write very quickly, but other tunes can take a lot of time.”

Performing is Smith’s favorite part of being a musician.

“I think it’s interacting with the audience,” he says.

“Just being on stage and seeing people respond to it, that’s the central part for me, It’s the greatest reward — also people coming up after the show.

“The fan interaction is always positive encouragement,” Smith says. “We’ve had times when we played for 15 people who thought the band was really on, and times when we’ve played for 500.”

In the future, Smith hopes to continue to perform.

“I’ve put out one album so far and I’m going to record another one in the fall,” he says.

“I produce my own records. It’s really furthering my music, whether I’m playing in front of people or having other people record them.”

Songwriting and performance both come naturally to Smith.

“I get a lot of satisfaction from both,” he says. “There’s nothing like finishing a song and being happy with it.

“It’s the same with performing. If you’re playing something and really feeling it and the band is feeling it, there’s nothing like it.”

Recording that first record was a huge learning experience, Smith says.

“When people ask me about the record, I usually tell them it’s what I imagine giving birth is like,” he says.

“It was a process. We went through it and it cost twice as much as we thought it would and took twice as long as we thought it would, but I was really happy with the way it turned out.”

This will be the first time Smith has performed in Savannah.

“I’ve not performed in Savannah, but I have performed around Georgia and as far up as New York and Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati,” he says. “I’m excited to get down to Savannah. I saw Gregg Allman play there last year.”